From the Desk of the Editor...

Ron Paul is a Pragmatic Choice

logicallypositive:

I don’t deny there are certain socially questionable things about the guy. He is honestly an old-school 1930s conservative. But I mean, look at what the President can do. The President does not pass social laws about race. The President does not create legislation. The President controls foreign policy. And I’m pretty sure that Ron Paul has the sanest foreign policy out of any other presidential candidate. Even leftists who rip on the man for his social views admit he has a good foreign policy. And what I’m saying is that all things considered, his foreign policy is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE  because that ist he one thing the President influences most.

I don’t really feel like diving into whether or not Paul is the best choice on the ticket, but I would like to comment on this sentiment that it fails to understand the scope of the President.  There’s a lot of fact here about the actual details of the office, but the President himself is bigger than that.  Yes, the main thing they have direct control over is foreign policy (and intelligence, of which only one agency is forbidden from operating within the United States and I’m not sure who has the task of making sure they actually don’t, and then the IRS and I’m pretty sure the FBI, but sure, we can ignore those, why not), but when someone becomes President they become a symbol of the nation’s attitude and the direction the rest of the government will go.  Remember that while the President doesn’t make law, very few laws can be passed if he disapproves of them.  Remember that while the President doesn’t decide court cases, he influences what Justices get to do so.  The job of the President is one thing, but the actual influence of the President is quite another.  And, no, we cannot ignore the true scope of the office just to make one person sound better, because it doesn’t actually make him better.